Why? Because we’re Baltimore sports fans. Our mission statement at WNST is that “We never stop talking Baltimore sports.” All of us are BALTIMORE sports fans that have grown up living and dying with Cal Ripken, Johnny Unitas, Raymond Berry, Roberto Alomar, Ray Lewis, Eddie Murray, Jim Palmer…the list goes on and on and on and on.

Furthermore, many of us witnessed life without a football team. A good majority of WNST’s world has witnessed their passion and love being taken away from them.

Look, I’m 21. I wasn’t around when the Colts left town. But I’ve been around my mom, dad, uncles, and grandparents to name a few. All of them have spent their entire lives living and breathing Baltimore sports.

Make no mistake about it. Pop loved the Baltimore Colts. Loved. L-O-V-E. Not love how you love a piece of pizza from Pizza Johns or how a fifth grader feels about their first crush.

He really loved them. And there are millions of Pops out there just like my grandfather who shed their own tears when the Mayflower busses made their way from Baltimore to Indianapolis on that March morning in 1984.

They experienced firsthand the pain of not being able to share in the passion that brought them together on 33rd street. It was part of what they did. Coming together on Sundays to live, breathe, laugh, and cry with the Baltimore Colts wasn’t just a hobby. It was a way of life. It was part of life.

It was life as a Baltimore sports fan.

That’s what the Orioles have always been to this city. And guess what folks: they still are.

The Orioles are still a part of life as a Baltimore sports fan. We can dislike Peter Angelos. We can get fired up over a managerial decision or make fun of Andy MacPhail for wearing his sweater vests or for taking too long to make decisions.

I can get on Adam Jones for not always being the nicest of guys in the locker-room and I can antagonize Buck for caring too much about the save rule. We all have our Mike Gonzalez and Jack Cust jokes.